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Under the theme “Our Pride is in Our Nature,” ����ֱ��’s 95th National Day is being celebrated throughout the country this week.

It marks almost a century since the proclamation of the Kingdom’s unification and its being named ����ֱ�� on Sept. 23, 1932.

On that historic day King Abdulaziz issued a royal decree to unify the state.

From a modest clay house in Riyadh, the foundations of a nation were laid.

The first Saudi budget, announced just a year after unification, amounted to no more than SR14 million (approximately $3.734 million).

In striking contrast, today the Kingdom’s budget exceeds one trillion riyals, nearly $375 billion. The achievement of the founding king is immense by any measure.

The Kingdom represents the Arabian Peninsula with all its historical symbolism, as the land from which Arabism and the Islamic message emerged.

The state of Abdulaziz surpassed its predecessors in all fields, breaking many old patterns of thought and action.

This progress continues under King Salman, who was a trusted adviser to his brothers, Kings Saud, Faisal, Khalid, Fahd and Abdullah, and a high-caliber administrative ruler as governor of Riyadh before ascending to the throne.

He is supported by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a leader with superior vision and a charismatic and exceptional character.

The battles for the unification of the Kingdom spanned three decades of King Abdulaziz’s life, from 1902 until 1932.

This was followed by a period of governance and state administration that lasted for approximately 21 years, until late 1953.

This means that the entire journey of unification and construction absorbed 51 years of his life, before he passed away at the age of 77.

Beginning in 1912, Abdulaziz focused on stabilizing the Bedouin population, which led him to establish settlements, known as the “Hijar.”

Each tribe was encouraged to migrate from the desert into villages designated for them. These communities were structured with judges, teachers, local leaders, mosques, schools and courts.

He provided them with water pumps and sent engineers to train people in their use. He also gave them imported seeds for farming.

The establishment of these settlements and villages gradually ended inter-tribal wars by eliminating their root causes.

This project essentially condensed the idea of a modern state, built on the fundamental pillars of justice, education and executive authority, in addition to achieving social and political stability.

This ambitious project can be described as one of the most significant initiatives of its kind in Arab and Islamic history.

The king’s priorities were clear in his vision, and because only about 20 percent of the population was educated to a basic level, he relied on Arab and Western advisers.

Among them were Abdullah Al-Damluji from Iraq, his political adviser; Youssef Yassin from Syria, an intellectual who founded the Umm Al-Qura newspaper and kept the king informed of what was written in the global press; and Khaled Al-Qarqani from Libya, the king’s envoy for sensitive matters, whom he sent to negotiate on behalf of the state in North Yemen and to meet with Adolf Hitler during the Second World War.

In the early era of King Abdulaziz’s reign, there were only three hospitals: Ajyad Hospital in Makkah, Bab Sharif Hospital in Jeddah, and one in Medina.

Starting in 1925, he raised that number to 11 hospitals and 55 dispensaries across all regions of the Kingdom.

He brought in doctors and worked to inoculate the people against epidemics such as smallpox, which had been deadly for years.

To the population of no more than three million at the time, these measures felt like magical solutions.

Abdulaziz also laid the groundwork for the modern state by founding ����ֱ��n Airlines, the national radio station, Jeddah Airport (later named after him), Dammam Port, the Shoura Council (Consultative Assembly), the Riyadh-Dammam railway and the College of Sharia, which became the nucleus of Umm Al-Qura University, and public schools.

In addition, sports began during his era with the establishment of clubs such as Al-Shabab, Al-Ittihad, Al-Wehda, and Al-Ahli, along with Ohod, Al-Khaleej, Al-Ettifaq, Hajer, and Al-Tehami, and the Saudi national team.

In financial affairs, he founded the ����ֱ��n Monetary Agency, now known as the Saudi Central Bank, and the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce.

The first currency in the history of the Arabian Peninsula was issued, and foreign scholarships began.

He also founded three specialized schools: one to prepare young scholarship students, a second for health education to graduate doctors, and a third to train mechanical engineers.

A “House of Industry” was also founded to manufacture all the equipment the government needed.

King Abdulaziz was man of unique character, an exception in every way, and his kind is never repeated.

His life story is unimaginably impressive, and I believe he represents a turning point, not only in Arab and Islamic history, but also in world history.

When he defeated his opponents, he was careful to honor them and restore their prestige within their communities, sometimes intermarrying with them and never diminishing their status.

He was one of the most cunning and wisest of men, knowing when to use his mind and when to replace it with his sword.

He restored the influence of this land, which it had lost since the capital of the caliphate was moved to Kufa during the time of Ali Ibn Abi Talib.

Without Saudi unification, Najd would have remained a series of small, resource-limited emirates.

The oil cities on the Gulf coast would have been subservient to regional or global powers.

The south would have been a region of competing kingdoms vying for influence, and the Hejaz would have been stripped of its historical and religious depth.

None of these regions would have been able to protect themselves from the simplest threats or have had the ability to invest their wealth.

• Dr. Bader bin Saud is a columnist for Al-Riyadh newspaper, a media and knowledge management researcher, an expert and university professor in crowd management and strategic planning, and the former deputy commander of the special forces for Hajj and Umrah in ����ֱ��. X: @BaderbinSaud.

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